Track-hazard indicator.



P. J. SIMMEN. EMU/ AZARD INDICAGR. APPLICATION mw my a. |916.

Patented Dec. 10, 1918.

10 f1 la APAUL J'. SIMMEN, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

TRACK-HAZARD INDICATOR.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1918.

Original application tiled August 2, 1913, Serial No. 782,693. (Patent No. 1,241,776, dated October 2, 1911.)

Divided and this application filed Kay 3, 1916. Serial No. 95.080.

Improvements in Track-Hazard Indicators,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the control of moving vehicles, and its novelty consists 1n the principles governing the operation of the devices ein loyed in the construction of such devies an their adaptation to the peculiar pur se for which they are to be used.

he invention is applicable to all forms of moving vehicles which are under the con-- trol of an operator, viz, an engine driver on a locomotive, a motor man on a trolley car or a chauffeur on an automobile, and the purpose of the invention is to guide the operator in the perfomance of his duties 4by providing him with an automatic indication of the speed permissible along the'line of travel and the hazards which pertain thereto. All vehicles of the class described are provided with a brake or some similar d'evice byV which the vehicle can beretarded. Our purpose is to indicate the Ypermissible s ed so that the brakemay be employed by tli: operator under service conditions `within all limits of safety or expediency, but when such conditions are exc'eeded that such con- In the accomplishment, of thefendsought there is rovided lon the vehicle within the operator s range of vision an actualspeed indicator so that he may note what the actual rate of speed of the vehicle is. There is also provided within his range of vision a permissive speed indicator so that he may know at all times what is the -maximum speed permitted bythe vehicle; and there is further provided what may be called a track, hazard indicator by which there is disclosed the diferent hazards along the right of wa which aiect or should affect the sp 4,- such as brid es, grade crossings', dargerous curves, yard imits, passages through ensel populated districts and the like. This trac azard indicator is provided with meansV for automatically varying the position of the permissive speed indicator to show'the predetermined permissible speed at all of the indicated hazards.

rator A Enough has been said to disclose the liature of the invention, and a preferred form of its. embodiment will now bo doooribod,

reference bein drawing in which Figurel is a plan of a construction embodying the invention; Fig.

views are all somewhat diagrammatic in character with as much structural detail eliminated as possible in order to simplify the description and to promote a clear understanding of the invention.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the wheels of a vehicle to which the invention` is applied,"11 being an axle connecting them. Mounted in suitable bearings, 12 at any convenient place on the vehicle is a shaft\13 rotated from the axle 11 by power-transmit` ting mechanism indicated at 14, and secured on the shaft is an actual speed indicator in the form of a centrifugal governor 15 but which comprises a collar 16 slidable on the shaft 13 and rovided externally with anhad to the accompanying4 y nular teeth 1 'forming in' effect' a rack adapted 'to mesh with a pinion 18 rigidly secured on ahollowA shaft 19 on which is rigidly mounted in turn a hand or pointer 20 t ada ted to be moved in front of a dial 21 a uated circularly in terms of miles per our or some other suitable notation.

A solid Shoa 25 roos through uio hollow- Shaft 19 and is adapted to rotate in bearin on the same center.- Ri 'dly secured to this shaft 25 but insulated t erefrom by a bushing 26 is a contacter comprising a-,radial arm 27 anda laterally projecting bar 2 8,

the end 29 of which' is made ,of insulating material. Loosely. mounted on this same shaft is ayneedle or pointer ,30 which may be called the permissive speed indicator Vpointerand'which isinoved in front of the Vtion of the A usual train air pipe'l passes throu h a box 35 located at a convenient place on t e vehicle and which box contains a valve 36 adapted to open and close the pipe and which is operated by a solenoid 37 mounted in the box, the parts being so arranged that when the solenoid is energized the valve is closed, and when it is denergized the valve is o cned and the air escapes through a port 38 in the box 35 and the brakes are set to retard or sto the vehicle. The construction and mode o operation of an air brake s stem of this kind is ,well understood. he solenoid 37 is in circuit with the battery 32 and conductors 31 and 33.

, Arranged at a convenient place within the vehicle and preferably within the range of vision of the operator is what'is termed a track hazard indicator comprising a band 40 of flexible material removably mounted upon and adapted to be wound upon and unwound from apair of rollers 41 and 42, one of which is moved from a ower transmitting mechanism indicate at 43 receiving its power from the same source and at the same rate as that which transmits power to the actual speed indicator. A suitable clutch indicated at 44 serves to promote the proper engagement of the mechanism and by actuatlng one or the other of the rollers 41 and 42 to reverse the direction of movement of the band 40.

The u per edge of the band 40 is arranged in profi e varying in distance from a maximum at the uppermost level 45 to the lowermost level 46. Along its lowermostedge it is preferably graduated to indicate miles traveled. The depth of the prcle is arranged to correspond with the permissive s d of the vehicle at different points along t e line of travel, the maximum level corresponding to a maximum speed, the minimum level to minimumspeed and the intermediate levels to intermediate speeds. The extent of these levels also indicate the length of the line of travel along which such speeds are permissible Coupled withV the milea e ra nations there may be displayed on -t e and conventional signs representing the nature of the hazards, for instance, a village indicated by an outline of a church, a curve right or left by a heavy curved line, a railroad or other crossing y a cross and4 other appropriate symbols, so Vthat an operator studying such a band may'inform himself in advance of the usual hazards along his contemplated line. of travel.

Arranged to contact with the upper or profile edge of the band 40 lis a roller 50 at the lower end of a rack bar 51, the teeth of which are adapted to mesh with the teeth of a pinion 52 rigidly mounted on the shaft 25, so that as the rack rises and falls as `the band with its profile of variable level passes under and in rolling contact with the trolley 50 the shaft 25is oscillated and consequently the contactor27 is oscillated. As the contactor 27 moves to the left or right the permissive speed inclicatorpcinter 80 is moved naamw with it, actual contact promoting such movement to the left and a spring 53, between them securing it to the right.

Now, so long as the actual speed indicator pointer 20 is to the left of the pointer 30, that is, so long as the actual speed of the vehicle is belowv the ermissive speed, nothing happens, but t e moment the actual speed exceeds such permissive speed, the pointer 20 is brought into contact with the insulated portion 29 of the arm 28 on the contactor 27 and breaks the contact between the conducting' portion of such arm and the pointer 30. Consequently, the circuit through the arms 20 and 30,V conductors 81 and 33 is broken, the air valve of the brake system is opened, the air escapes and the brakes are automatically applied to retard or stop the vehicle.

That is, if at any time the operator fails ',to keep his actual speed below the permissive speed, as indicated by the position of the pointer 30, then the vehicle is automatically retarded or stopped. He has control of his speed at all times within legitimate limits, but the control is automatically taken away from him as soon as his speed exceeds the permissible. The extent and duration ofl the permissive speed is determined by the nature of the profile on the band 40.

It is obvious that variations may be made in the mechanical detail of the device, without departing from the principles of the invention. The precise formV of the trackhazard indicator is not material. It may be in the form of a circular disk with the proper profile on its edge and the-trolley 50 contacting therewith (see Fig. 5)-, it' may, where the length is to be desired, assume the form of a spiral flange projected from' a revoluble cylindrical hub with the profile on the edge of the liange,A (see Fig. 6), but in Whatever form it may be made, it must be capable of being removably secured to the vehicle. The device aiords a positive direct control of the speed cn a run under o erative conditions without any external signal or despatching systems. It may be suitably combined with such systems or timing systems also, but these must, of necessity, be outside of the 'scope of this description. While the invention .has been described as particularly applicable to a moving vehicle under the control of an operator, it is very easily conceivable thatl the apparatus is applicable to 4.moving vehicles which are not under the control of an operator without varying from the principles of the particular invention for controlling the speed.

' The track hazard indicator hasalso beenA described as of a form in which the maxi- "mum speed indication corresponds with the for the particular tion. might correspond with such upper edge and the maximum indication with a lower level of the band.

The device which forms the subject-matter of this application has been described all throughout the specification as a track hazard indicator, and reference has been made to its use with moving vehicles, and imliedly with those which move along a track. lit will of course be understood that the invention is equally applicable to a moving vehicle which does not move along a track, and in that case possibly the term of wayhazard indicator would be more appropriate device in question; but it is thought that no msunderstandin can arise from the use of the word trac in connection with the device described.

What I claim, is

1. The combination with avehicle, of variable indicating mechanism carried therebr for automatically indicating did'erent speeflis ermissive along the route, accordin to the azards at the different points, an means` for moving the indicating mechanism as the vehicle traverses the route to indicate the proper speeds of said vehicle at diierent points along the route.

2. The combination with a vehicle, of variable indicating mechanism carried thereby, and means for causing the indicatin mechanism to operate in accordance with t e movement of the vehicle along the route to auto- A matically indicate different speeds ermisactual speed indicator,

sive along said route according to t e hazards at the different points.

3. The combination with a vehicle, of means carried thereby for indicating at every moment for every pointalong its line of travel' apermissible speed for the vehicle, and means for operating the indicating means as the vehicle traverses the line of travel and varying said permissive s eed indication according to the hazards alling the route.

4. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator, a track hazard indicator and o erative connection between the latter and thi: permissive speed indicator.

he combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator, a track hazard indicator and an olperative connection between the latter and t e permissive speed indicator, all carried on the vehicle.

6. The combination with a vehicle, of an a permissive speed indicator, a track hazard indicator and means operated from the latter automatically to vary the position of the permissive indicator in ards.

7. The combination with the running gear of a vehicle. of a device for indicating its actual speed operated from such running gear, a track hazard indicator indicatin the permissible speed of the vehicle at all times, and an operative connection between it and the running gear of the vehicle.

8. The combination with a vehicle, of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator and a track hazard indicator,;the latter being at the same time a controller for the permissive speed indicator.

9. The combination with a vehicle of an actual speed indicator, a permissive speed indicator and a track hazard indicator, the latter being at the same time a controller for the permissive speed indicator, in further combination with an indicator adapted to be moved in accordance with the actual speed of the vehicle whereby the relation between the two speeds may be observed.

10. T e combination with a vehicle of a track-hazard indicator provided with a profile correspondin to the varying speeds permissible to the ve icle along the route, means for moving the indicator proportionately to the extent of travel of the vehicle and a member resting against such profile and moved by the variations in said profile.

11. The combination with a vehicle of a track hazard indicator provided with a profile corresponding to the varying speeds permissible to the vehicle along the route,

accordance with the indicated hazmeans for moving the indlcator propoi-,

of a

' the extent of travel of the vehicle and a rack bar resting by gravity upon such profile and adapted to be reciprocated as the indicator moves. a dial graduated in terms of speed, a pointer arranged in vfront of the dial and an operative connection between .the rack bar and the pointer. f

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL J. SIMMEN'. Witnesses C. E. CHA'ImLn, L. RINGER. 

